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A Rule of Five Spots Spine Disease
A combined rule of five -- the presence of at least five fatty lesions/erosions in the sacroiliac (SI) joint, at least five fatty lesions in the spine, or at least five spinal inflammatory lesions on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) -- is highly specific for axial spondyloarthritis in patients wi
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Romosozumab Surpasses Teraparitide in the STRUCTURE Study
The experimental bone drug, romosozumab, has succeeded in meeting its primary endpoint by showing it was significantly more effective than teriparatide in a 12-month study assessing total hip bone density in postmenopausal women with osteoporosis.
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Bicycle Injuries and Fatalities Increasing in Older Americans
JAMA reports the number of traumatic injuries related to bikes in adults nearly doubled from 1998 to 2013 -- going from 8,791 to 15,427. The researchers used data from the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System, which includes data from of 100 emergency departments, and U.S.
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MOST Study: End Stage Knee Osteoarthritis Shows Dynamic Change by MRI
Guermazi and colleagues have investigated whether end-stage knee osteoarthritis (OA), assessed as grade 4 Kellgren and Lawrence (KL) radiographic changes, are really "end stage".
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Growth Hormone Protects Against Osteoporotic Fractures
In a decade-long study of the effects of growth hormone (GH), 80 women with osteoporosis on HRT, between ages of 50-70 yrs were randomized to receive GH 1.0 U or GH 2.5 U recombinant human GH or placebo sc daily during 3 years and compared to an age-matched populatoin sample of (n=120).
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BMI at Age 20 Influences Future Risk of Low Back Pain
A nationwide, cross-sectional study of men aged 30–50 years (n=1385) examined the relationship between weight and back pain over time.
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"Eye of Newt" Leads Regenerative Therapy in Osteoarthritis
Regeneration of cartilage is the holy grail of osteoarthritis research.
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Osteoarthritis Update August 2015
Different Phenotypes for Osteoarthritis of the Foot. Osteoarthritis is often characterized as either a symmetric polyarticular (often involving DIPs, PIPs and CMC1), asymmetric oligoarticular or monarticular (knee or hip OA), but OA may also affect the foot.
Read ArticleMinority of Nonradiographic-Axial SpA Patients will Progress to Ankylosing Spondylitis
Wang and coworkers from the Rochester Epidemiology Project presented their findings at the annual Spondyloarthritis Research and Treatment Network.(SPARTAN) in Denver, CO.
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Vitamin D Fails in Postmenopausal Osteoporosis Prevention
JAMA reports that investigators from the University of Wisconsin in Madison studied the impact of vitamin D supplements on 230 women who were at least five years past menopause but no older than 75, and without osteoporo
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NSAIDs are Risky in Patients with Chronic Kidney Disease
Little is known about what happens when NSAIDs are used in patients with chronic kidned disease (CKD), especially those with hypertension.
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Not All Placebos are Equal: The Needle is Mightier than the Pill
Placebos are necessary to determine the “true effect” of any medical intervention. As such, they have become the cornerstone of evidence-based medicine, randomized controlled clinical trials and novel drug development.
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Long term Denosumab Use Shows Favorable Outcomes: Results from the FREEDOM Extension Trial
Osteoporosis is a disease characterized by increased bone loss that outpaces the grown of new bone. As a result bones become less dense and more fragile and brittle; porous bones are more prone to fracture.
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Lithium May Have Chondroprotective Effects in OA
Several studies have suggested that lithium chloride exhibits significant chondroprotective effects on cartilage degradation (in animal models) in response to inflammatory cytokines.
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FDA Strengthens MI and CVA Risks Associated with NSAIDs
FDA announced yesterday they would strengthen warnings stating that non-aspirin nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs increase the chance of a heart attack or stroke. This applies to both prescription and OTC NSAIDs.
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The Unproven Use of Stem Cell Therapy in OA of the Knee
Regenerative medicine and the use of bone marrow stromal cells (or mesenchymal stem cells - MSC) is controversial in many areas of medicine, including osteoarthritis. MSC use is at a very early stage in orthopedic research, but has been investigated in osteoarthritis of the kn
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Right Knee Pain - What's Your Dx?
A 36 year-old white male butcher has right knee pain for 3 weeks. He noted a similar episode 5 years earlier and admits to a traumatic fall on that knee years ago. He denies fever, redness, warmth, other joints or other past medical problems. He only takes OTC ibuprofen prn.
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Conservative Equals Surgical Management of Lumbar Spinal Stenosis
A randomized controlled trial of compared the outcomes of surgical decompression or physical therapy in 169 lumbar spinal stenosis patients. After two years, intention-to-treat analyses revealed no difference between groups.
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Intraarticular Hip Injection of Ketorolac Equals Steroid Responses
Using ultrasound guided intraarticular injection of the hip, 98 OA of the hip patients were randomized to receive IA ketorolac or triamcinolone. At, 1, 3, and 6 mos pain scale and Harris hip scores were improved equally in both groups with no statistical differences.
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Increasing Incidence of Osteomyelitis
A Mayo Clinic analysis of trends in osteomyelitis disclosed 760 new cases between 1969 and 2009 in Olmstead county. Rates increased from 11.4 cases per 100,000 person-years for the period from 1969 to 1979 to 24.4 per 100,000 person-years in the period from 2000 to 2009.
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